What are some of the Clinical Effects of PAH/PPH?
Increased pressure in the pulmonary arteries results from a progressive narrowing of the pulmonary arterioles – the smaller branches of the main pulmonary arteries. One direct effect of these abnormally elevated pressures is blood leakage from the pulmonary vessels. A blood-producing cough is oftentimes an indicator of leakage from the pulmonary vessels. The increased pressures in the pulmonary arteries and arterioles can trigger a cyclical chain of adverse events beginning with a decrease in the blood’s oxygen content. The body then responds to this low oxygen content by increasing its production of red blood cells. This is known as polycythemia. By doing so, the body attempts to compensate for the blood’s low oxygen content by increasing the number of oxygen carriers, i.e. the red blood cells. As the red blood cell count increases, the blood thickens, making the heart (already under increased stress from the elevated pressures) work that much harder to pump the thicker blood througho
